General chat thread for puree lovers!

[Neenztwinz]

Before I started weaning my twins, I read about BLW and thought it looked like an amazing idea.

When I tried it I found my darling LOs didn't pick up a single thing never mind get it into the mouths.

So now I puree food and spoonfeed them and they are eating massive amounts and loving it - and sleeping all night!

So I thought I'd start a thread for others who are doing the same as me - we can swap ideas for meals and say what works for us (ie what makes them sleep ).

I gave my twins four plums plus ebm and baby rice for breakfast and they have had a big bowl of sweet potato, haricot beans and brocolli for lunch. More of the same for tea (plus maybe some swede and parsnip). They are 6.5mths old.

What did yours eat today?

GKS -The GF books don't mention anything about weaning off BF.

Sorry Maria, read it back and it doesn't make any sense at all! If you read the weaning section in the book for weaning at 6mths, you may get the jist of what I was talking about

Hi BDQ, THANK YOU for posting that, as it's quite relevant to me too. And GiantKateStacks a big thank you to you too because you're answering my questions.

So, only my musings, but for BDQ:
I'm also worried about the amount DS eats, but then I've also overfed him on two occasions. He has protein, and also two courses. At both dinner and tea!
The 'pudding' is yoghurt or fruit puree. But he does have a sweet tooth, and we struggle with getting him to finish the savoury but he gobbles down the fruit. (Same at nursery!)

Also struggling with milk feeds, but will address that (or just ask more questions! ) in just a second. But similar issues with dropping milk feeds.

My DS is famously on the 0th centile. He's always been small - 9th at birth - and has now slid down off the chart. He's quite bright (well, you know, he's only 7 months! ) and active, and is normal in every way, just small. He's also in rude health - he's hardly had a cold since birth. I think his 'genetic potential' is to be small! So to AK!

Vomiting - had that, from overfeeding. Was your DS distressed after vomiting? Mine wasn't, he laughed. A load off his stomach, clearly.

Nappies - we're semi solid here. Gone are the splattery bfed ones. They're grown up now, but not small hard lumps. He doesn't seem to struggle to produce them! Try the Ella's Kitchen sachet with prunes... (I'm joking - ish!)

Yes to fruit or yoghurt at lunch here - we do
it and so does nursery, and they're professionals!

GiantKateStacks your timetable was really useful. Here's mine side by side with some questions!

6.30 bf 8.30 bf here

7.30 plum porridge with ebm and fruit puree/mashed banana 9ish breakfast, usually yoghurt and fruit puree. Not much success with porridge. How important is the ebm here?

10-10.30 bf This is one that is being missed if he's having lunch.

11.30-12 lunch - only one course but toast as well. Similar here, but 2 small courses. DO YOU BF HERE??

2-2.30pm bf also a late afternoon bf here.

5-6pm dinner 2 courses and some finger food of whatever we are having at 6pm (penne etc) - generally natural yoghurt to follow. 6pm dinner. Around 80ml, (measured in a Hipp jar) of veg, and a similar amount of fruit puree.

7pm bf 8pm bf

Oh, huge post. Sorry all.

My concern (in case you hadn't guessed) is the milk feeds. Is he getting enough, and if I'm dropping them (because he's going to nursery and is reluctant to take a bottle) how do I deal with this?

essie - am glad and slightly amazed frankly to be useful but anyway can you possibly leave a clear hour between the early bf and the breakfast?

I dont think the ebm is that important with the breakfast but it does help to get them to eat it and if you got in another 2ozs here it would help the shortfall at nursery I think. You could then get them to give a yoghurt at 10am as a snack instead of formula. We dont bf at lunchtime no - so we go straight through from 10 til 2pm which is what we were doing before lunch started happening - very GF I know...

When my ds went to nursery at 8 months he was having bf early morning and before bed, a yoghurt, milk on his breakfast cereal and 6-8ozs of formula at the 2pm feed and that seemed to be fine. He took the bottle at last in the very week that he started - god it was hard work but we got there in the end by using a really fast flowing teat - if he doesnt take it at all then you may find yourself doing a bf when you pick up and another one for him to go to bed with so he would still have three feeds.

oh and am also incredibly jealous of your 8.30am starts to the day

Ethan;s just started dropping his milk feeds too ( in the day)
6.30 bfeed
8.30 ish porridge made with cows milk, sometimes with fruit puree
10.00 ish bfeed
12.00 lunch - veg/meat puree then fruit and yoghurt
2.00 ish bfeed
5.00 tea - similar to lunch, and then finger foods whilst we have our tea
7.00 bfeed

Ooh, just a thought - if I make up porridge (if he takes it) with cow's milk, will that do?

I suppose it's the mid-morning and mid-afternoon feeds that are at risk. He did take 10ml (!) from a bottle at nursery on Friday.

if he took 10 ml last week then surely that will improve, it's better than nothing.

The porridge is worth a try, I just use normal porridge, I did blend it at first but don't bother now.

cor Deb - you're exactly the same as us and yes the porridge and the yoghurt will all count. Not to mention any cheesy food they have at nursery.

Hello all, glad you've all posted your routines with bfs/ffs - I wondered if we'd dropped too many bfs and that was why B was feeding every 2-3 hours during the night. Deb, how much is Ethan feeding at night, I think he was doing the 2 hourly thing as well?

I'm not following anyone's plan - no AK or GF here! - bad mummy! (I don't get B weighed either, I can't bear the pressure!) But I seem to have ended up with what you all seem to be doing anyway:

Anytime between 5am and 7am - bf then back to sleep if possible

Up after 8 (if I get my way!) and breakfast of baby porridge made with fruit puree and EBM or ready made formula - have been using Ready Brek this week instead of Plum super porridge and is fine with EBM or formula for whoever asked. A couple of toast soldiers and butter.

Mid/late morning bf, but normally feels like more of a snack than a full one.

Lunch an hour or so after bf - usually just one course, but a fairly substantial one. A few bits of pitta bread or rice cakes with Philadelphia.

Mid afternoon - substantial bf

Sometimes another snack bf during the afternoon

Tea between 5 and 6pm - savoury course, pudding of fruit with rice and EBM or yogurt, some finger food.

Bed between 7 and 8 with another bf.

Night feeds are usually 'full' bfs, around 9.30pm, midnight, 2.30am and 4-5am. I'm not including the early morning bf in that.

Glad I've written it down, if only for me to refer back to! Does it sound like a lot of milk feeds?? I wish we could drop the night ones, even one would make a difference!

Ready Brek or supermarket own brand 'hot oat cereal' is just finely ground porridge oats, and a LOT cheaper than baby porridge - and seems to be fine with ebm, formula or full fat cows milk.

We've only just - and I mean the last 4 nights - got us down to 1 bfeed in the night now, Whinegums. We were previously on 3 hourly through the night, and no idea why. Was considering options eg refusing to feed him but then he calmed down. On the plus side, or not as the case may be, that mad bfing thing got me just under 8 and a half stone. Look tired and old, but slim.

Hopefully nursery can work on the ebm. I'm assuming I'm better using cow's milk in food than my valuable ebm? Specially if he won't eat it?

You can get fine porridge. Can't remember what it's called (hm, fine porridge, maybe?) but it's useful for making soda bread. And feeding a child.
Will attempt to get Iestyn to eat some porridge tomorrow, but it may have to be a fruity one. He has such a sweet tooth.

whinegums I know this is going to sound annoying but we now dont have any milk feeds between 7pm (or whenever) and 6-6.30am.

Has your ds always had so many feeds in the night or has is slowly crept up? You wont be able to drop them all at once - that would be cruel I think but you could definately drop the 9.30 and introduce a dream feed when you go to bed - at 10-11 and then keep the 2.30 for now but not feed at 4-5am.

We managed to drop the night feeds (slowly) by around 6.5 months - I know other people are happy doing them and thats fine but I was just too tired and was worried about going back to work and still nightfeeding (even though thats not til April).

If you went back to 2 hourly in the day would it give you more confidence to not feed at night?Will your dp back you up and help out with comforting - easier for them to do IMO than you as I was just tempted to feed all the time.

Well, Ethan has just(23.30) had a dreamfeed, which usually means it will be a bad night and he'll be awake again at about 3.00 for his next feed, then 5.00/6.00 etc etc... If he doesn't wake at this time then he seems to be able to go through until 5.00. I don't know why this is happening at the moment. At 3 months he slept through!!! But since 4 months that all stopped. Hope that's helped Whinegums.

Porridge - I started off by blending the dry oats before cooking to give it a fine texture or just put it through the blender when cooked - much cheaper.

Hi girls, good morning

It's 6.50 & I've been up since 5.20... We had the night from hell!! I think Linos is definitely going through the most massive growth spurt he's ever had (even though I used to believe growth spurts don't exist). In any case, he just WOULDN'T settle after 7, and then had a massive feed at 11, then at 2.20 another massive feed, then at 5.20 another massive feed, then a massive poo at 6.00 am & then I just gave up & decided to get up for the day. I know these were all massive feeds because they were all bottle feeds (EBM or formula) just to see what was happening, after a few bad nights of bf.

I have to say, I believe he's as ready for solids as any baby can be, even though he's just 24 weeks today... he's over 17 pounds for weight, and has just GOBBLED UP whatever I've given him, lurching forward to grab the spoon with his mouth (our repertoire so far is baby rice & pear). So I'm thinking of moving a bit quicker, not following the GF early weaning plan, but trying to introduce al the first tastes within 10 days or so. No constipation so far.

It's exhausting that we're back to sleepless nights with all these feeds, after being in the position where Essie is now (yes touch wood and all that Essie!), having just achieved one feed in the night after the 10 o'clock feed. Oh well, I think it's the growth spurt plus my accident which unsettled things... hope things improve soon. Off to express now in an effort to boost my supply, speak soon!

Maria - just a quick warning about not giving too many solids/new things in the evening because it can really unsettle their tummies and therefore their sleep - this happened with my ds quite regularly. And happened last week with my dd and some egg...

Giantkatestacks- thanks for the tip! Will keep it in mind... so far we've introduced baby rice & pear. So do you think I can safely add 1 cube of pear in his baby rice in the evening (at 5)? I'm mainly thinking of adding new things at lunchtime & basically keeping to baby rice in the evening, but perhaps a bit of fruit with the rice would be ok (once he's used to it at lunchtime)? Or are you referring to more 'complex' tastes with which I should tread carefully in the evening?

yes - things you've given before should be fine - am talking about new things and things that sometimes bung them up - so not intolerated (is that even a word?) but stuff like bananas or cheese (though of course this could be just my two being weird)

OK, I see, so baby rice & a bit of pear would be fine for supper I presume I think (from what I remember in the GF book) that bananas are a bit harder to digest anyway. I assume cheese is the same...

(BTW, totally unrelated, but do you have twins? Because you say 'my two'...)

we also had the night from hell here - with bfds every 2 hours

Just a quick post to say thanks all for comments on my weaning woes. Feeling much better about it all. Starting to tweak the routine today and going well so far. Need to go back and look at the threads for finger food suggestions that people gave me previously. Its much easier for us to get peace to eat our tea if he's got something to munch on and I suspect that I shouldn't be giving him rice cakes every night .

Sorry not to be of help with the night feedings as that's something thankfully that we've not had an issue with.

nope - have got a 5 year old and an 8 month old...its already making dinners quite hard cos I just cant mash the family food as my ds is eating 'adult' food with correct seasoning...

we had great success just now at lunch though with potato and carrot rosti (unseasoned ) its like mashed food in that its easy to eat and yet it holds together enough for my dd to pick it off the tray..woo hoo.

deb - am so sorry...have you posted in sleep at all?

Misread that last post - thought Kate was asking whether Deb was posting in her sleep. Not the sleep board...

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on night feeds. I've tried to up his milk feeds during the day, even offering EBM in a cup, but he's not interested. I add quite a lot of milk to his food, but it looks like we're stuck with the night feeds atm. He's still only small I suppose, so we'll just go with it for now.

Maria and Deb, here's to better nights tonight, and Essie, hope Iestyn keeps it up.

DramaQ, we tend to give B a bit of whatever we're having for dinner if he's still up and eating with us. He had pureed Sunday dinner today - I whizzed up a bit of chicken breast with EBM, carrots, greens, roast potato and parsnip, and then he sucked on some green beans while we finished ours. I also give him cucumber sticks, pitta bread, rice cakes, toast - I don't think that much goes in, but it keeps him occupied!

Essie - I just feel like I'm posting in my sleep!!

Whinegums, are you trying to cut out night feeds? Do you feel your LO is feeding less in day and more at night? Mine were same. After Christmas I just cut out night feeds and did CC. They then fed more in the day (first thing, 10am, after lunch, 3pm and 7pm). They were eating well in day though, porridge for breakfast, a good protein lunch, yogurt and potato/veg plus oatibix for tea before I cut out night feeds. Theo actually didn;t even wake so no need to do CC, Esther cried for 45 mins the first night then 20mins the second then slept through. But I think you have to be sure they are eating enough in the day. If you want more details etc let me know.

Not been on here for a while but have been on the Neenz kicking off about blw thread. Hope you are all following it! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weaning/682497-When-to-39-Up-39-meals

Essie, when I was doing loads of night feeds I wasted away too - nearly 8.5st myself now, not been this skinny since my wedding when I practically starved myself for 3mths